From Hitler’s Social Parasites to Kaiser’s Mental Parasites
By Andres Kogan Valderrama
HAVANA TIMES – Regarding the release of the latest book by far-right lawyer Axel Kaiser, titled Mental Parasites, I reviewed some of the interviews he has given in various media discussing his new publication. Listening to what he says, it is chilling that such ideas are disseminated today.
I mention this because of the historical use of the notion of parasites to exclude, dehumanize, persecute, and murder millions of human beings, who were considered undesirable, infected, contagious, and inferior, and thus eradicated by any means possible.
One of the most emblematic and tragic historical cases where human groups were labeled as parasites was the actions of Adolf Hitler’s Nazism, which resulted in one of the worst genocides in history—the death of millions of Jews.
In response, Axel Kaiser might defend himself by arguing that the idea of mental parasites differs from that of social parasites, as it aims to discredit ideological conceptions rather than specific human groups. However, in my opinion, this is merely a rhetorical device without basis.
He might even claim that Nazism itself is a mentally parasitic ideology, but that does not change the essence of the matter: Kaiser employs the same biologist narrative that Hitler used to disdain and denigrate others for being or thinking differently.
In other words, separating an idea from the group that promotes it is just a crude way to justify prejudices, stigmas, and a binary division of the world into good and evil, as if anyone had the right to cleanse society of a contaminated, infected entity that must be eradicated.
Thus, the issue is not that Kaiser discusses concepts like social justice, social rights, the welfare state, inclusion, or neoliberalism. The problem lies in his positioning himself from a stance of intellectual and moral superiority, as if he speaks from a place of purity and natural truth to combat enemies supposedly intent on degenerating society.
This is why Kaiser’s idea of mental parasites echoes the worst theories of the 19th century, stemming from sociobiology, social Darwinism, and a worldview that used biology to justify inequalities, exclusions, persecutions, and even genocides against those deemed different and undesirable.
That said, Axel Kaiser may attempt to disguise his supremacist rhetoric with his critique of leftist ideologies and political correctness. But deep down, as with the far-right movements of a century ago, what ultimately bothers him is the world’s plurality and the existence of diverse perspectives.
In short, Axel Kaiser may want to differentiate himself from Hitler’s proposals by centering his discourse on the individual rather than on race. However, both resort to the same biologist rhetoric to denigrate those who think differently and are supposedly inferior to them, thus justifying their elimination from society.